Entries for May 2012

We hosted our Global User Conference last week in Barcelona. Situated in the stunning Hotel Arts, we had users attending from across Europe, Africa, North and South America and Asia. It was a really successful two days packed with interactive product sessions, customer case studies and some great networking and hospitality.

As part of Triple Point’s ongoing commitment to be the best solution partner, users were given the opportunity to influence product roadmaps in the Customer Driven Development meetings. We also had some great tips and tricks sessions to help users gain a greater return on their investment in Triple Point solutions. Additionally, we showcased our new mobile apps during an exciting live demonstration.

We would like to thank all the users who attended and also the 9 Partners who kindly sponsored the event. Focal Point 2012 sponsors were Structure Group, DataGenic, Deloitte, FEA, Lacima, Morningstar, Opportune, Softcom Solutions and ZE PowerGroup.

With J.P. Morgan’s recent $2 billion loss, financial risk is once again making headlines. It doesn’t look like this loss is going to cause systemic failure, but it serves as a prudent reminder that strong credit risk management systems and practices are vital to surviving today’s risky waters.

In a recent article in We Know Commodities, Dana Docherty and Amanda Lohec, Directors at Opportune, warn that “All too often, spreadsheets that are intended to be a stopgap measure become comfortable and are accepted as a long-term solution. Replacing those spreadsheets with Credit Management and Reporting (CMR) systems is critical to developing strong credit risk management capabilities." In the article, they also share some important lessons learned from credit risk and reporting system implementations. The following are some lessons learned to ease the transition:

Beyond protecting you from losses, credit risk systems can help you better understand traders' profitability – neither of which you can do with spreadsheets. Read more about Triple Point’s award-winning credit risk solution, Commodity XL for Credit Risk™.

A combination of persistently low margins and high volatility can spell bad news for refining operations, causing intraday swings in oil prices exceeding their margins. According to an article recently published in Global Technology Forum, this situation is driving greater integration between refinery operations and trading activities within oil companies. It’s no longer good enough to be buying or selling to meet the needs of the refinery – supply traders and marketing personnel are being asked to use their market knowledge to make smarter trading decisions.

According to Viren Doshi, senior vice president, Booz & Co., a more trading-oriented approach has been most prevalent in northwest Europe, the Mediterranean, and the US Gulf Coast. Companies in these regions have recently had to be more flexible to survive low margins and leverage high price volatility in their markets. Independent refineries in particular have been bullish on this approach because of their less complex operations.

Software solutions that can minimize costs and maximize refinery margins by optimizing the entire supply and trading chain have been key to making trading integration easier for refiners. These solutions have the ability to process refinery plans and forecast demand and production information upon which the supply and marketing groups can take action. They also enable plan changes to be immediately visible to the trading group for improved efficiency and productivity. To learn more, read the full article.